Inner struggle, and surrender
by MetaLucario
Summary: The inner battle went slightly differently, and it might not end so well for the vizard. Will Ichigo succumb to the hollow within? One-shot, dark-ish!Ichigo. No yoai.


A/n: Would've posted sooner, but thats impossible with an unending mound of work, and absolutely no internet (curse you mountain campsites!) I was bored of my wits, and this idea came to me. I wanted a new chapter for only my king, but sadly no inspiration there… I will update it soon though. kinda a song fic to Its the fear by Within Temptation.

I own nothing

"I'm gonna swallow ya up, Ichigo." That voice was beginning to seem normal to Ichigo now. He was still scared shitless at the thought of the hollow taking control of him; but with it constantly threatening him and haunting his every living moment, he was used to hearing it. And that very thought terrified him. Ichigo didn't want to be used to it, but slowly he felt himself not caring. That only served to further terrify him.

The battle with the two Arrancar was only two weeks ago; but to Ichigo's disturbed psyche, it felt like months of agonized confusion. He sat in his desk, Ochi-sensei's blabbering was inaudible over the warbled pitch that echoed through the teen's tortured mind.

"This is borin', Ichigo. Tha' mesu won' shut 'er trap, an' it's annoying the 'ell outta me."

"Your doing the same to me, hollow."

"But yer still listenin', ain't ya king? Ya are, an I doubt ya'll ever stop listenin' ta me. I'm so much closer ta ya now, Ichigo. Ya don't see it, but yer heart is just barely outta my grasp; soon enough, it'll be crushed in my fingers. You will be nothin' but a puppet in my hands, king." The last word came out as mocking sarcasm, and Ichigo shivered. Ochi-sensei turned to look at the teen, concern on her eyes.

"Are you alright, Kurosaki?"

"Ona no baka. God, I hate her. Ya should really le' me out now, king. I'll rip 'er throat ou', an' then ya won' 'ave ta deal with 'er. An' I'll be jus' that much closer ta ya. It'd be so much easier, Ichigo; ya wouldn' 'ave ta be afraid o' losin' control anymore, 'n I'll stop bothering' ya so much. An' ya 'll get outta this worthless class, 'n you'll have me all ta yerself, my king."

Ichigo shivered again. What the hollow had said made so much sense to his confused, disoriented brain. He closed his eyes, and reflected on his eyelids was that pure white copy, hand outstretched, beckoning.

"Yes, Ichigo. Come ta me, let me control ya. I'm gonna swallow ya' up, Ichigo."

Ichigo reached out his hand, only to find himself strangling the teacher. Ochi-sensei looked at him in shock, and Ichigo's eyes mirrored hers. He let go instantaneously. Ichigo turned his head away.

"Gomenasai, sensei. I'm out of it today." He felt nothing but shame and self disgust. Then he dashed out of the room before the hollow could influence him to do something worse. He decided in that instant to finally except Hirako's help.

Just as Ichigo finally managed to focus his powers on the reishi within the area, he heard a static sound behind him. Ichigo whipped around to face whatever it was, and his eyes fell on the a teal haired Arrancar. Ichigo was suddenly aware of a presence behind him, and wheeled around to face it-

"Rukia-"

"Step back, Ichigo. I will deal with him."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me, Ichigo. I can handle myself-" She was cut off by a tan hand impaling her abdomen. Ichigo cried out in worry before turning to the opponent.

"Ya look stronger than her. I hope I'm right, that was boring as hell." The the blue Arrancar attacked him. Ichigo drew Zangetsu in a flash, and parried the blow, dodging a second one within the same second. They dealt several blows back and forth, before the Arrancar stated his boredom and pounded his fist into Ichigo's face, successfully throwing the teen to the ground. Ichigo's breath left him at the earth shattering impact, and the teen looked up in shock as the Arrancar sonido'ed behind him instantly.

Ichigo was again thrown to the ground, his body forming a small crater in the asphalt.

"Ichigo, lemme out. I'll finish this bastard off fer ya. Let me 'ave control for a while, Ichigo." Ichigo could feel the hollows reiastu course through him; it's power was nothing less than intoxicating as he stood immersed in it. He could feel his control wavering and slowly dissolving. It continued cooing at him from the deep recesses of his mind. Ichigo was losing, he couldn't bring himself to fight anymore. He felt the cold surface of the mask against his flesh and snapped. He watched in an out of body experience as his inner hollow controlled his actions, forcing him on to viciously attack the arrancar before him. Ichigo felt his hand slip around the others throat of a will other than his own, yet he also felt his inner hollow's anger and rage toward the aqua haired figure. He felt its sadistic glee as the personage struggled in their grasp.

Wait, when did Ichigo include himself in the same category as that cruel entity that existed inside of him, twisting his mind to match its own twisted ideals? He grew confused, uncertain as to his own feeling on the matter. The hollow's cold emotions flooding through him, and its dark reiatsu encompassing him sent him further off the deep end. In his inner world, Ichigo put his lightly tanned hands to his face, his warm, solid flesh a mild comfort and his fingers tangled through his vermillion locks.

"Don' know anymore kingy? Well, i'll tell ya what exactly is happenin', Ichigo. I'm winnin', Ichigo. Yer fallin' within yer own mind, an' I'm 'ere ta catch ya when ya finally hit tha bottom. Can ya feel me influencin' yer own thoughts? Can ya feel yerself givin' in, an' almost beggin' me ta take over completely?" Cold, icy arms wrapped around his torso and frigid breath assaulted his ears, accompanied by warbled cooing. Ichigo stared forward blankly, and the frozen embrace tightened to a vice. A pale hand stroked his jawline with glacial fingertips. His face was harshly forced up to stare into those heartless amber eyes drowning in pools of hateful obsidian.

He felt the thrill of the outer battle, both his own thrill and that of his ivory counterpart. He could hear that arrancar's denial at his "transformation," before he saw Tousen pull the azure being into a garganta, obviously displeased. Ichigo could feel disappointment from the pale fiend beside him, and to his dismay he mirrored its feelings. His attention was drawn back into his inner world as the hollow dug into the teen's face with his pitch-colored remembered Orihime talking about the chocolate and pickled cauliflower sandwich she'd made for dinner. With a sudden burst of will, he pushed away, and regained control once again. He paged Urahara, to heal Rukia, then left to find Shinji. He hoped his classmate was telling the truth. If not, then he truly was screwed.

"So ya finally decided ta show up, eh strawberry? So yer ready ta join us, I assume?" The blonde vizard called down from his perch near the top of the warehouse. Around him were various others: a large man with pink hair, a blonde girl with pigtails, a very feminine blonde male, a girl with a long black braid and glasses that glinted in the dim light, a man with a spiked afro and large black shades, a green haired girl, and a burly man with silver hair.

"I'm not joining anybody, I'm just here to learn how to suppress the hollow." Ichigo was calm as he stared Shinji dead in the eyes.

"An' what if I refuse ta teach ya?" The blonde grinned with unnaturally straight, even teeth that were reminiscent of piano keys.

"Then I'll just have to force it outta you." Ichigo drew zangetsu and swung at Shinji. The blonde dodged, beginning the dance of skilled blows, and perfect parries. The duo attacked and dodged in seeming unison, as they pranced about the room. Before too long, the little blonde girl kicked the other, much taller blonde- who then flew through the wall, which shattered at the contact.

"You're going about it wrong, dickhead. Ya don' have a choice,

the way it works is that ya prove you're strong enough so we let ya join us. Ya have no real choice in the matter, baka." She took off her sandal and through it at him. It hit him square on the chin, knocking him back a bit. She pulled her hand down across her face, forming a mask with simple ease. "Now, let your hollow out, or you are really gonna die."

"No, i'm not letting him control me again!" Ichigo yelled. "Bankai! Tensa zangetsu." Ichigo swung the thin ebony blade of tensa zangetsu at the petite vizard, who caught it with her bare hand. Ichigo tried again, and she dodged without missing a beat. Hiyori drew her own zanpakuto, aiming straight for Ichigo, who failed to dodge. She followed up with a barrage of similliar, high speed attacks. Ichigo could feel the hollow rearing its head in fury.

"Let me out now idiot! She's gonna kill ya, stupid! Ichigo!" Its dual tone voice rang through the teen's head, and Ichigo ignored it. He got up again, only to face more blows; including a particularly nasty punch that Ichigo suspected had broken a few ribs, not to mention completely desolated his lungs. Ichigo felt his vision blur, felt the dark power surging within his veins. It was more than he could take. "King."

"I know. Your turn." he joked weakly through his failing control. His consciousness dissolved into his inner world. Almost instantly, his legs gave out. Just before he hit the ground, as his exhaustion left in place of adrenaline, milky white arms caught him. The strong, freezing limbs wrapped around him, hauling him to his feet carefully.

"Watch yerself there, aibou. I told ya i'd be 'ere ta catch ya if ya fell." It grinned, wide and crazed. Its unnatural, sharp canines protruded from its gums in an intimidating way. Its hands lingered on the teens shoulders, supporting his tired form. Ichigo leaned back against the pale darkness, his exhaustion slurring his sluggish thoughts. A cold hand found its way to his orange hair, gently massaging the teen's aching head. "Rest, aibou. I'll take care o' ya', my king." It smirked calmly into the teen's tawny fluff. Yer almost mine, Ichigo. Almost… It reached up to touch Ichigo's chest, fingers just inches from his warm heart. Ivory flesh and ebony nail inched closer, closing the gap. It traced its pale digits around the teen's heart longingly, and the teen twitched beneath the caress. Yes, almost there-

Its head snapped up. It felt its influence fade from Ichigo's body, as the mask shattered at the end of the blonde man's sword. He'd nearly killed that worthless brat too. Why'd they have to intervene right as his interest was at its peak?

He unhanded Ichigo as the unconscious teen disappeared from his sight, and watched the proceedings through a glass window on the nearest tower.

Two days later, after a heated argument over training methods, Ichigo was thrown forcefully back into his inner world by an extremely irate Shinji. The hollow felt the kidou that was placed on the teen's body. Che'. Pathetic. It felt the sudden, forced shift in control. Bad mistake there, ya will soon learn not ta mess with me. Baka. Ichigo was before it.

"Yo. Long time, no see... yer majesty." It mock bowed. "What's with tha' face. Ya look all depressed." It was disapointed when all the teen did was ask about "zangetsu ossan". Disappointed and infuriated, it taunted the teen, revealing that it was zangetsu. The two exchanged a few blows, the teen still pushing the question. It was infuriated. "I'll tell ya again. Ore wa... zangetsu." Then he proceeded to explain exactly how he was the powerful sword. Ichigo barely listened, but responded simply enough with newfound vigor. they taunted back and forth, simultaneously unleashing bankai. The battle continued, with Ichigo on the losing end. As his white dark-side threw him back towards a building, it called out to him. "Don't be so uptight. Let's have some fun."

'Urusai-yo." Taunts flew both ways. The teen attacked again. His getsuga tensho was merely dissipated with a wave of the hollow's hand. It locked blades with him, and let off its own getsuga. He shook out of it soon, and once again the hollow was upon him already, throwing out biting taunts. It grabbed the end of his sword, and the ebony metal instantly bleached white at the contact, before dissolving into microscopic reishi. "Z-zangetsu-'

"Didn' i already tell ya? I'm zangetsu." The pale hollow literally threw Ichigo into a tower, completely destroying the foundation. "Ichigo…" It threw its stark white bankai, caught the chain with its equally pale finger, and twirled it around dextrously. "What's the difference between the 'king' and the 'horse'?"

"What?"

It abruptly paused the twirling of its sword, hiding its eyes behind milky hair. "I'm not askin' ya some kids riddle, with shit answers like 'one has four legs an' the other has two,' or 'one's an animal an' the other's a human.' Assumin' two existences had the exac' same form, ability an' even power, wha' makes one tha 'king' who fights the battles, an tha other tha 'horse' tha' amplifies tha king's power?" It paused. "There's only one answer, Ichigo. It's the instinct. For one ta gain power over the other, they 'ave ta seek battle, an' get stronger. Deep down in our body, Ichigo, is a refined killer instinc' carved inta us by tha primal hierarchy!" It paused clenching his fist excitedly, "And you have none of it." It hurled its colorless sword at Ichigo. "Ya wanna know why?" It sonido'ed to where the impaled teen was, lifting the boy's tan face with its pigment deficient hand. "'Cause I am tha' instinc', Ichigo. I am yer instinc', an' ya shut me out. Ya avoid an' neglec' me, aibou. An' I'm tired of it. Yer weak, Ichigo, ya need me. Admit it!" It was an order. The hollow tightened his grip, threatening. "Admit it, Ichigo! Ya'd be dead without me." It's grip loosened, just slightly softer, and it stroked a pale thumb across the boy's cheek. Ichigo leaned slightly into the caress, and looked down. He realized the truth of the hollow's words, and his stomach felt heavy, like a stone pit filled with a hard chunk of ice. The shame at his own ingratitude filled him up, and he stated simply

"I'm sorry. You're right, and thank you for every time you've saved my life. I should have realized..."

"Ya can make it up ta me, Ichigo. Be a good lil' horse, an' let me 'ave control indefinitely."

"Yes, king."

The hollow's bare hand impaled the strawberry's chest, and Ichigo fell forward with blank, dark, empty eyes. Hollow eyes. The hollow clenched his fist in the boy's chest, effectively crushing his heart in a spray of shining crimson life. When it pulled its hand away, Ichigo's chest sported a large hole. From out of the hole, white fog shot out and covered the teen, his body solidifying in hollow form. His hair was down to his neck, his skin pale, and a simple mask formed across his face.

"What are your orders, king?" Questioned Ichigo.

"Kill. Kill all o' them, yer so called 'friends'. Rip out their throats fer me."

"As you wish, king." Ichigo stated obediently.

A/N: i like how this turned out. I glossed over details a bit, and changed some stuff, but I like how I did it. Rate, and review, kudasai mo arigato!


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